How hot is too hot?

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LaylaLop

LaylaLop

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 22, 2011
Messages
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Location
Near Columbia, South Carolina, USA
With summer approaching fast (in most areas, at least) it seems to be warming up. My apt is no exception. Yesterday and today have been in the low 80's and before that it was only in the 60's. I lack air conditioning so my southern-exposure apartment tends to heat up quickly. I'm also on the top floor and don't have a good window layout for cross breezes.

At night I open the windows and use box fans to pull in cooler night air and close up the blinds and my energy-efficient black out drapes during the day, but it still is hot in here! Last night got down to about 76 degrees but it's back up again.

Right now it's about 82 outside and 80 inside. I went to a local hardware store looking for a few pieces of granite/tile but they don't sell them in anything but cases and since I'm moving soon I didn't want to buy a bunch of stuff.

So far, Layla and Mumford seem fine with it. I've kept the sunlight out of their room and I have my laundry drying on a rack with the fan blowing past/into the bunny room at an angle. It's my ghetto swamp-cooler and I don't have to run the dryer..

Is a shady 80 (didn't mean to rhyme there) too hot for rabbits or are they fine? I've been giving them fresh veggies straight from the fridge, they have cool water, and have a place that's on laminate-type flooring accessible to lay on. I only have a leather couch to sit on, so I guess I'm a bit worse off...

Another question regarding overheating animals... a few years ago our old dog with breathing problems died of heat stroke in Alaska (yes, it's possible) and when we first noticed her slightly labored breathing we rushed her to the vet and they had me hose down her paw pads and ear-flaps with rubbing alcohol since it evaporates quickly and can help cool them down. Sadly, she did not survive since she was over 13 and had other health issues but I was wondering if anyone has ever used rubbing alcohol on a rabbit's ears if they suspect overheating? I know it could possibly damage their skin or if poured in their ear cause pain/burning, but if one were to rub it on with a cottonball could it help prevent heat stroke in a rabbit?
 
I have never done that and i would not take the risk beacuse the alchohol could have a deadly effect on them, and if it didnt i would imagine it would hurt them because their skin is soooo sensitive. If you are looking to cool their ears down rub cold water on them.

80 degreegs is getting up there that is normally when my bunnies start to get uncomfortable when i loose my AC i alwayes have a fan near the bunnies cage and i give them a frozen water bottle that they always lay next to when given the chance

good luck
 
We had a very weird spurt of above average temperature last Wednesday. We hadn't had rain for a month and then got hit with a 90 degree day. It got up to 87 degrees inside. We didn't put the AC on because it was going down in the 70's overnight. We had air movement, plus fans. With plenty of cold water and veggies, they all did well. It was the first time I used an ice pack in a towel while I groomed. They loved that.

I think what you are doing now is great. They will be fine. But I'd nix the idea of the alcohol rubs. I'm just not sure how the bunny's systems would do through contact or ingestion. I don't want to find out so I'll stick with the cold packs. They can lay on the packs when they want to or get off it when they want to.

K:)
 
Just thought I'd ask about the rubbing alcohol for when I'm driving cross country since I can't really keep freezer packs. I'll probably have some on hand in a first-aid kit and if needed for my dog (hopefully not). I've found conflicting evidence for it's use on rabbits online. Some sources say if they are in extreme heat shock to use it since burning their skin beats them dying from the heat stress. Other sources say it's ok to use if on a cottonball and diluted. It's not something I'd do daily, but more of it they're on the verge of heat stroke/death. I really hope it doesn't come to that but we will be driving Southward in May/June and I just want to be prepared!
 
One of the sites saying it's ok in dire situations: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

If I do notice them overheating I'll probably stop at a gas station/fast food place and get a cup of ice to put in a ziploc or water bottle and hold against them to cool them down.

I'm thinking I'll get a wide-mouth nalgene bottle that I can run into places on the way and fill with ice (or at the very least cold water) and keep it in the carrier so they can lean on it if too hot.
 
LaylaLop wrote:
One of the sites saying it's ok in dire situations: http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

If I do notice them overheating I'll probably stop at a gas station/fast food place and get a cup of ice to put in a ziploc or water bottle and hold against them to cool them down.

I'm thinking I'll get a wide-mouth nalgene bottle that I can run into places on the way and fill with ice (or at the very least cold water) and keep it in the carrier so they can lean on it if too hot.
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting that. Very informative. It would have to be really dire before I used alcohol. It's good to know, but hopefully I never have to get to that point. The ice packs and the ice on the ear, and the frozen veggies, I'm hoping will be what is needed if it ever got to a point needed. But it's good to know about the alcohol and now won't forget it. Thanks.

K:)
 
An alcohol-water mix would probably be better than right-out-of-the bottle.

You probably could find some tile somewhere. Some are sold for chinchillas. And maybe a rummage sale or thrift shop would have a smaller quantity than a hardware store. Or a design store might let people have some free samples so that they can match colors in their home.
 
The local pet store didn't have any granite chinchilla blocks and both local hardware/flooring stores don't sell or have single pieces. I posted a want ad on a few classifieds to see if anyone has a couple pieces that maybe a corner chipped or something.

*edited because of bad run-on sentence*
 
Yay a huge thunderstorm brought with it some cool wind and rain so now the place is down to 70 max.

When the booms of thunder shook the building Mumford was none too happy and ran off thumping but he had his litterbox tub to hide in so he was ok. Layla didn't seem bothered (and neither was my dog).
 
Hi
I live in Australia and we get really hot weather at times so I take my Bunnies in the house in the air conditioning. Other times I have just given them icebricks to lay on and ice cubes in a dish to lick, they loved the ice cubes especially the younger bunnies they thought it was a great game to chase the ice cubes around a big dish! I also have got cold water in my hands and wetted them down to cool them off.
Oh good luck with the tiles!
:wink
 
We live in a very small house in rural Texas that doesn't have air-conditioning. That's right...Q-tip does Texas summer without AC. We get her through it with a box fan right next to her (she likes to curl up right in front of it), and a ton of frozen water bottles. I keep a supply of three or four frozen at all times, and I give her two at a time to snuggle.

When it gets really hot, I mist her ears with cold water. She grouched at me the first few times, thinking I was spraying her because she was being bad, but then realized it felt good, and started grooming me after misting.

That got her through an entire summer of over 100 degrees every day (at least 90s in the house). This year, I'm getting her some tiles. :)
 
It mostly depends on what your rabbit is used to. 80-85 degrees around us is no big deal. Our rabbits made it through the hot Texas summer last year withoutlosing anyone. Fans, ice and an insulatedroof over the cages worked (thank goodness) because we have no way of bringing them all inside.
 
I agree it all depends on what they are used to. My parents have rabbits that live outside and we're in central Arkansas, the summers are definitely hot! Frozen water bottles are the best in my opinion.

My brother runs the AC so much our house is always freezing, so I don't have to worry about that! lol
 
Well, I grew up in Alaska so "hot" is relative buuut it looks like my bf and I are moving to the south for a job and thankfully the places we're looking at have AC. For our sake as well as the pets'!
 
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